Margaret Duley (1894-1968): a daughter of Newfoundland renowned and loved around the world for her novels, yet disparaged at home for her outspoken views on women’s rights and her novels’ bold portrayal of the female perspective.

While history may be guilty of under-representing her significance, in THE HAUNTING OF MARGARET DULEY, audiences meet Margaret as an emerging and daring author, as an unconventional spiritual traveler, and as a human being ultimately undone by a relentless illness.

PerSIStence Theatre was proud to present the premiere production of Berni Stapleton’s THE HAUNTING OF MARGARET DULEY September 25-29 at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s, NL.

Donna Butt - Tryphena DuleyDonna is the artistic and executive director of Rising Tide Theatre. She has contributed to the provinces artistic life as an actor, writer, director, dramaturge and producer for 45 years. Donna is a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador. She lives and works in Trinity where Rising Tide presents Seasons in the Bight, a festival of work that reflects the history, culture and character of our province and features some of our finest artists. In winter Donna travels the highways with the annual Revue. She is honoured to be part of the economic and cultural life of this province, and of its vibrant and dedicated artistic community.

Torquil Colbo - Nelson DuleyTorquil Colbo hails from St. John's and has been living in Toronto since before the turn of the millennium, where he gets mistaken for Torquil Campbell on a monthly basis. Theatre highlights: Cripple Billy, Cripple of Inishmaan (North Bay Theatre Company), Joey Smallwood, The Only Living Father (Theatre Newfoundland Labrador), writer / performer in Beyond Zebra, Blue Blazes, Trust Me, and Ragnarok. Selected Film / TV : Titans, Copper, Reign, Private Eyes, The Listener, Anne.

Edward Daranyi - WalterIn his past 19 seasons at Stratford, Edward has served as Assistant Director of Oklahoma!, A Delicate Balance, Oliver!, Ghosts, The Lark, Quiet in the Land, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Associate Director of King Henry VIII,The Donnellys: Sticks & Stones, and West Side Story. Other directing credits include Fuente Ovajuna, Voces des las Cerras, Vivir Para Contarla; Teatro EsArtes El Salvador. Noye’s Fludde (CBC); Dance of Death; Weird Kid; Nightlight; Sometimes…; and Nunsense, Baby, Six for Song, Little Shop of Horrors, On Golden Pond and On the Fourth (SummerStage Theatre, Boulder, Colorado). If I Could, and Two Minutes to Midnight; Teatro Es Artes and The World Festival of Children’s Theatre. Edward co-created landmark multi-disciplined adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Mozambique with Shakespeare Link Canada and Montes Numuli and Romeo and Juliet, a hearing/deaf multilingual experiment, with Shakespeare Link Canada. He continues to work with artists in El Salvador in partnership with The Stratford Festival and CUSO International. Edward has taught acting at the University of Guelph and the National Theatre School of Canada and has taught Classical Theatre for Humber College, George Brown College, The Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Cawthra Park School for the Arts and the National Ballet School of Canada. For Michigan State University, Edward has taught classical theatre and theatre for young audiences and directed The Beaux Stratagem, Cyrano de Bergerac and James and the Giant Peach. His production company, In the Blink, produces youth-oriented theatre in the Toronto area and he regularly voiced characters for the TVO/Treehouse series Mighty Machines. Edward is a BFA acting graduate of the University of Windsor.

Edward will also be offering workshops for students and teachers while he is in Newfoundland - click here to learn more.

Christopher Dunn - ManChristopher Dunn is a comedian, actor, singer, and improviser from St. John’s. He is the artistic director of Night Out Productions, which showcases top tier local and international comedic talent. Christopher recently completed the six-week Opera/Musical Theatre Intensive at Opera NUOVA in Edmonton, Alberta. There he performed in a scene study of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabbler; Kiss Me Kate in concert; Purcell’s The Fairy Queen; Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream; and The Secret Garden. Appearances with Opera on the Avalon include Sweeney Todd; The Sound of Music; Dead Man Walking, and Into The Woods. Other recent performances include TaDa's Jesus Christ Superstar; Berni Stapleton's Brazil Square with GirlPower Productions; and Peter MacDonald Production's Tarzan. When he is not singing he can found at any local comedy show performing stand up. He recently won Runner Up at James Mullinger's Comedy Bootcamp. Christopher also performs improv with Stanley Braxton, one of St. John's' longest standing improv troupes and he co-runs an annual Comedy Festival of the same name.

Mallory Fisher - GirlMallory Fisher is a theatre creator, director, performer, and gin drinker from Mount Pearl. She divides her time between Toronto and Newfoundland, where she has spent four seasons with Rising Tide Theatre. Her one-woman show Mad Girl’s Love Song is currently in development with PerSIStence Theatre. She holds an MFA in Theatre Performance Creation from York University and a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from the Boston Conservatory. Most recently, she has joined the Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland team as Associate Producer.

Darryl Hopkins - Paul / PierreDarryl Hopkins is an actor and musician, from Newfoundland. He holds a BFA from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (Memorial University), where, in 2002, he received the Tommy Sexton Award. In the past few years, he has been the recipient of numerous awards for his performance, in Noel Harris' film Touch. He has a long list of theatre & film credits to his name. Recent projects include BetweenBreaths by Robert Chafe, UncannyValley by Ian Vardy & A Fire in the Cold Season by Justin Oakey. Hopkins has also started production on a new album of original songs. You can find some of his music @ avalonstanley.com. Enjoy the show!

Amy House - Mary CarewOver the span of her career Amy has been a performer, comedienne, writer, producer and director. Amy recently completed fourteen years as Artistic Animateur of RCA Theatre Company at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s. There she was at the heart of the development and production of over forty original plays by Newfoundland playwrights. A comic with an irrepressible fondness for improvisation, Amy is a much sought-after performer for many special events and private functions. She is currently working in television production with Tyndrum Media Inc. as the Host of From Inside the Circle as well as Audience Relations and Communications Director.

Marie Jones - Lila / Mme. DupontMarie is an AB-born performer, writer and director based in St. John’s. Some of her recent appearances include Other Women Walk (White Rooster Theatre); Isle of Demons, Women Playing Hamlet (PerSIStence Theatre); West Moon, Trinity Newfoundlande Pageant, No Man’s Land (Rising Tide Theatre); Twelve Nasty Women, Room for a Pony, Curved (Women’s Work Festival); Cookstown (Salt Teeth Theatre); Proud, Village Wooing (Double Sure Theatre Co-op); Leave of Absence (New Curtain Theatre); and Under Wraps (Artistic Fraud). Marie holds a BA (Hons.) in Drama from the UofA and is a grad of George Brown Theatre School. Her Closely, her first full-length writing devised from letters and diaries of Franz Kafka, will reach the LSPU Hall mainstage in 2020.

Ruth Lawrence - Margaret DuleyRuth Lawrence works as a theatre and film maker. In 2020, she makes her directorial feature debut with Little Orphans (Imagine That Productions). Her first feature documentary, Circus by Komatik (Firecrown Productions) was broadcast on CBC in July and can be seen on GEM. She directed The Ennis Sisters' music video Shine Your Light (Blue Pinion Films) to mark the 100th Anniversary of the CMHA. She is the artistic director of White Rooster Theatre. Ruth has received a Best Actress Award at the Atlantic Film Festival, the RBC Michelle Jackson Award for Emerging Filmmaker, ArtsNL’s Artist of the Year, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the YWCA Woman of Distinction and WIFT Atlantic's WAVE Award.

Berni Stapleton - PlaywrightBerni Stapleton is a Newfoundland- Labrador writer and performer of unique distinction. Her play The Pope and Princess Di is listed on the Playwrights Guild of Canada's "The SureFire List" of top 23 plays from female playwrights in Canada, and her play Woman in a Monkey Cage was also long-listed. Berni has been a playwright-in-residence with companies across Canada, and her plays are regularly produced nationally and internationally, including Offensive To Some, Brazil Square, The Haunting of Margaret Duley, Our Frances, and the script for the currently touring production of No Change in the Weather - a Newfoundland Musical. Other accolades include The Rhonda Payne award from Arts NL; the Writer’s Association of NL award for best work in non-fiction for her contribution to the book They Let Down Baskets; and the Ambassador of Tourism award from Hospitality NL. Berni received the 2018 Arts and Letters award for best dramatic script, and was supported by the Canada Council to write her book Girly Muckle and the Queer Hands. Her new one woman show is called Late Lesbians and Other Bloomers, and Berni is one of the featured performers in Artistic Fraud’s Between Breaths. Berni was the Artistic Director of the Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival for 11 years, was dramaturge for and helped devise transVersing (Artistic Fraud/Love of Learning), and most recently directed Sharon King-Campbell's play Original for PerSIStence Theatre. More at bernistapleton.com.

Jenn Deon - DirectorJenn is a freelance theatre artist who has worked in St. John’s since the early 90’s. As artistic director with the Shakespeare by the Sea Festival from 1995-2015, she directed many of its productions over the years. Recent directing credits include Isle of Demons (PerSIStence); Life Sucks (Deon-Walsh Productions) and After The Sirens (Quills on the Edge). In 2013, Jenn was a recipient of a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her community involvement, and received the 2018 Woman of Distinction Award for Arts & Culture from the YWCA St. John's. Jenn is also a trainer with the CHRC's Respectful Workplaces in the Arts for the theatre sector in Atlantic Canada. She is a founder of and the producing artistic director with PerSIStence Theatre. More at jenndeon.ca.

Krista Blackwood - Stage ManagerKrista is delighted to be making her PerSIStence debut! Here at home in Newfoundland, she was the assistant director for Habib's Unforgettable All Night House Party (RCA Theatre Company) and stage manager of Into the Woods (Opera on the Avalon). Favourite stage management credits elsewhere include The Candidate (Citadel Theatre); The Hockey Sweater: A Musical (Segal Centre/NAC); Shakespeare in Love (Neptune Theatre); Glenn(Soulpepper);The Mill, parts 1 to 4(Theatrefront);Anne of Green Gables – The Musical(The Charlottetown Festival);Peter and the Starcatcher(Western Canada Theatre);The Rocky Horror Show(Theatre New Brunswick);Generous (Tarragon Theatre);and six seasons as an assistant at The Stratford Festival. Thanks to the cast and crew, and the whole PerSIStence team!

Mara Bredovskis - Production ManagerMara can often be found hiding in booths and backstages around town. She has worked as a production manager and stage manager (thankfully rarely at the same time) for companies such as Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, PerSIStence Theatre Company, Opera on the Avalon, Perchance Theatre, Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre, White Rooster Theatre, Wonderbolt Circus, Theatre St.John's, and many others.

Kelly Bruton - Costume DesignSince arriving in Newfoundland via Botswana, twenty five years ago, Kelly has contributed to the cultural landscape of the province as an artist, educator, filmmaker, activist, mentor, designer and collaborator. She studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia her birthplace where she graduated with degrees in Fine Art (textiles and sculpture) and Art Education (1991). Travel has enriched her artistic practice over the past 25+ years. She has trekked into mountain ranges Rockies (Canada), Simien (Ethiopia), Himalayas, (India and Nepal), has reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, (Kenya) traveled by water into the Okavango Delta (Botswana), Lake Malawi (Malawi) and Lake Tana (Ethiopia). These incredible encounters with the nature also include intense cultural exchanges with people. Seeking out traditional makers in their local communities continuing ancient and modern textile practices. These intense experiences continue to broaden her cultural and artistic palettes. Kelly’s contribution as an Artist for social change in her local community and abroad, includes a decade of service on the Board of Directors for Oxfam Canada resulted in her appointment as Board Chair and as a Board Trustee for Oxfam International. This voluntary work in International Development was inspired by living and working in Botswana in southern Africa. She is currently a Board Director for the Social Justice Cooperative NL, SKS Children’s Centre and an Artist volunteer at the Gathering Place.

Kathryn Burke - Sound DesignKathryn is a local actor, musician, producer and sound designer. She has been an actor with Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival, QVRRDF Fall Musicals, St. John’s Players (SJP), Shakespeare by the Sea (SBTS), and Best Kind Prodcutions, co-produced a provincial tour of skc original's Give Me Back, and also sits on the V-Day St. John’s board, which produces The Vagina Monologues annually. Sound design credits: The Tempest (SBTS), A Nice Family Christmas, Wit, The Maltese Bodkin (SJP); Noises Off, CLUE On Stage (Nothing on Productions); and Original (PerSIStence Theatre Company).

Shane Johnson-Hartley - Costume ManagerBorn and raised in St. John’s, NL, Shane is happy to be making his debut with PerSIStence Theatre. Shane works regularly spends his summers working as the costumer designer with Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador in Cow Head. He has spent time learning at Grenfell’s Technical Theatre program as well at Dalhousie University’s Costume Studies program. Shane has also done costume work/design for Holy Heart High School’s performance program with shows such as Miracle on 34th Street and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He is also working as the costume assistant for Opera on the Avalon’s upcoming production of Phantom of the Opera.

Holly Meyer-Dymny - Set and Lighting DesignHolly Meyer-Dymny is a theatre designer and visual artist based in Ontario. She has designed for opera, theatre, and dance productions with companies such as Hart House Theatre, Opera on the Avalon, Opera Lyra Ottawa, TOES for Dance, and Smile Theatre. She was an assistant set designer at the Stratford Festival for two seasons. Selected credits: Set Design Into The Woods, The Sound of Music, Set and Projection Design Tosca, Dead Man Walking (Opera On The Avalon); Lighting Design Cendrillon (Laurier Opera); Set Design Titus Andronicus, The Penelopiad (Hart House Theatre); Production Design Anne of Green Gables, Sunshine Sketches, Gift of the Magi (SMILE Theatre); Set Design Pandora,L’Homme et le Ciel (FAWN Chamber Creative); Set and Lighting Design Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot (FAWN/Opera Lyra Ottawa); Set Design Assistant The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The Tempest, To Kill A Mockingbird (Stratford Festival). Upcoming: Phantom of the Opera (Opera on the Avalon). More at hollymeyerdymny.com.

Sarah Parsons - Associate ProducerSarah Parsons is a full-time student at Memorial University, currently finishing a degree in English and philosophy. This past summer, she completed an internship as an assistant director for Perchance Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar, which was the last requirement needed for her fulfillment of Memorial’s Diploma in Performance and Communications Media. Sarah has worked as a stage manager and production assistant for PerSIStence Theatre for the last two summers, and she is absolutely thrilled to be able to assist with The Haunting of Margaret Duley. Sarah is actively engaged in directing, film making, singing, and acting, and she will appear in the St. John’s Short Play Festival’s upcoming production of The Boor by Anton Checkov. Sarah would like to thank Jenn Deon for the opportunity and continued support. May the legacies of strong and talented Newfoundland women live on in the work we do.

Nicole Smith - Assistant DirectorNicole Smith is a writer and director based in Cambridge, Ontario. She holds an honours degree in theatre studies from the University of Guelph and has worked as a producer for Pat the Dog Theatre Creation. Nicole is founding artistic producer of Sonderlust, a collective dedicated to the creation of original work and the staging of women’s stories. Her work has been supported by the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Metcalf Foundation, the Shaw Festival and Canadian Stage. Nicole is over-the-moon grateful to Jenn and the PerSIStence team for the chance to assist with this beautiful premiere, on this beautiful team, in this beautiful province.

Kate Stenson - Head of PropsKate Stenson is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist with an MSc in history, and an unhealthy obsession with stationary. Recently returned home from 5 years in Toronto, she is thrilled to be working with the multifaceted St. John’s community. Select credits: Shanawdithit; Ours (Opera on the Avalon); CircusFest 2018 + 2019 (Wonderbolt Circus); Shakespeare by the Sea Festival 2019; PIANOMEN (Theatre St. John’s); The Boor & The Door (Team Broken Earth); Ori (Bruno Vinhas & Corie Harnett); many weeks as DJ Kate at RuPaul’s Drag Race Live with Irma Gerd. Thank you for supporting the arts – we can’t do it without you.

Phil Winters - Technical DirectorPhil Winters is a musician, nature photographer, and theater professional in St. John's. Experienced in all aspects of stage craft, he is mainly a lighting designer. He has designed lighting for plays, musicals, and contemporary dance. As a guitarist, he has performed with prominent influential bands Schizoid and BUNG, Liz Band, Fur Packed Action, and Hot Nuts. Current projects are Psychobilly Cadillacs and Jigger. Some of Phil's photos have recently been published in Stouts, Millers and Forky-Tails: Insects of Newfoundland. This is his first show with PerSIStence and hopes it will not be the last!

For schools

September Student Matinee Performances for Berni Stapleton’s THE HAUNTING OF MARGARET DULEY

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Margaret Duley, widely acclaimed as Newfoundland’s first published novelist as well as a strong supporter of women’s suffrage.

To celebrate her life, PerSIStence Theatre is offering student matinee performances to the premiere run of Berni Stapleton’s play THE HAUNTING OF MARGARET DULEY, at the LSPU Hall Theatre in St. John’s:

● Thursday, September 26 at 12:30 pm - SOLD OUT● Friday, September 27 at 12:30 pm

Performance duration is 90 minutes. Cost is $10 per student with free admission for teachers and chaperones.

The LSPU Hall can accommodate a maximum of 180 students per performance.

If you would like to bring a large group and/or if cost is a factor of concern, please contact us! We want as many students as possible to see this play, so the price is negotiable. We will work with your school to make it possible for your students to attend.

The play is suitable for high school students, and a study guide is included for teachers to expand learning and discussion. Teachers of the following subject areas will be able to make direct curriculum connections to this production: